In Zechariah’s time, the people complained that theirs was “a day of small things.” (Zechariah 4:10) Israel languished under the rule of the Persians, their ranks thinned and the second temple plain and unadorned. In light of this, Zechariah has sometimes been dismissed as passive and conformist, lacking the fiery words and indictments of Isaiah, Jerimiah, Amos, and other prophets that railed against the disrepair of God’s people. In this commentary, Lessing argues that Zechariah stands among the great prophets, merely taking a different tact. Zechariah is a text of rebuilding: rebuilding God’s law in the nation, rebuilding the hope of the Gospel, and rebuilding the faith of the people. Taking an approach that is Christological, theological, historical, and literary, Lessing receives Zechariah as a whole text, saying, “Zechariah is God’s gift for all living in wreckage and ruin.” Read and be comforted by the Prophet who foretold Christ’s birth in Bethlehem.

Features

• Discussion of the chapters 9–14 as a visionary template of Christ’s passion
• Biographical histories on Zechariah, Haggai, Cyrus II, Darius I, and Bablyon.
• Century by Century overviews of scholarship on Zechariah
• Comparison of Psalm 126 as a microcosm of Zechariah

Additional Essays

• Zechariah and Apocalyptic Literature
• Zechariah and Earlier Texts